Savage Spider-Man Finale or One Fan’s descent into raving lunacy.
Writer: Joe Kelly
Artist: Gerardo Sandoval
The smell was hideous. The corridor filled with shadows. But I could not be stopped. I crept further into the deadly beast’s tomb. At the end of the long (very long) hallway, filled with wretched exposition and overly designed costumes, I finally found my prey. An old iPad, on its last legs and low on battery. I turned it on, and with some trepidation I opened the Amazon Kindle App. There it was, the final issue of Savage Spider-Man. I trembled, but fear could not deter me. I selected the issue, and, I’m embarrassed to say with great glee, I selected “Delete”.
Thank you for indulging me. Shall we go through the final issue of Joe Kelly’s “Non-Stop Saga” together? For old times sake. The grossly misleading cover, promises the Savage Spider-man and the “Non-Stop Saga conclusion”. And with that I have given up on this editorial team. Why the name change? Savage Spider-Man was gone by issue three. Why advertise this issue as Non-Stop’s conclusion, when issue one made no reference to the previous series on the cover? How is a casual reader meant to follow this?! On my last review I had to explain the connect to commenters.
Depth of Field:The Superior Spider-Man…wait that’s someone else…what did I call him last time (one quick google later) the Evolved Spider-Man confronts Zemo and the The Immaculatum.
Focal point: Spider-Man and the Mad Thinker team-up in the astral plane and defeat Zemo and the Immaculatum. This was one of the dullest fight scenes in recent memory. Between Spider-Man’s over the top narration boxes (12 on a page) or an inflated number of speech bubbles (20 on a page), it’s impossible to engage with any of the art. The art should be able to sell a fight sequence, and from what I can see, it does. I don’t understand why Kelly and Editorial allowed the art to be lost. I’ve read it with and without the dialogue and it could easily have been edited down.
Spider-Man stabbing Zemo in the hand also felt out of place for a Spidey series.
O
nce Peter has returned to his normal self, for whatever reason, he crawls into bed trying to figure out what had happened to him. And I feel the exact same way. Fortunately neither Peter nor I will ever have to think about the events of this series again.
Yay(?)
Photobombed: Gerardo Sandoval does give us an awesome splash page of Spider-Man characters akin to the floating heads of guilt. It shows Sandoval’s range, and what he could do on a different title.
Negative Exposure:I love stories. A good story can engage me, and change my mood, make me look at things in new ways.
A good story, at its most basic level has a beginning, a middle and an 
end. While this book promises a conclusion, it does not deliver. This story started with Peter trying to save his friend Kel from an A-Plus overdose. When last we heard she was admitted to hospital, is she alive, is she dead? Austin died from his overdose, did Kel suffer the same fate. The story doesn’t care to resolve this. As the inciting incident is forgotten, does this story really serve its purpose? Does Peter feel as though he has at least accomplished something?
While I’ve been waiting for Doctor Strange and Norah to return, their cameo does nothing to conclude their role in the story.
Grade: A+ … ha no. F. I don’t think I need to go into more detail. Apologies this has not gone into the depth of my previous reviews but I honestly don’t think this series deserves any attention.
Zoom In:
What did you think of Savage Spider-Man? Let me know in the comments!
Adam
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@Evan That is a conciliation thank you. I honestly didn’t get into this to “call ‘em as I see ‘em” but this series has really disappointed me.
I do love comics, and Spider-Man, and hope I can be more positive in the future. Snapshot will be back, as I review Deadly Neighbourhood Spider-Man coming soon.
Pray for me.
@Adam — If it’s any consolation, I really enjoyed reading your review. I really respect how, when you dislike something, you’re not political or tactful about it — you just tell it like it is. From the way it sounds, it made your review a hundred times more entertaining than the book itself.
@AC Thank you. I’m sure I have a No-Prize coming my way.
@ Sthenurus I’m genuinely happy to hear to enjoyed the issue. I know I’ve been critical of the series and it’s nice to hear another prospective. I do think the art has been stronger than in the previous series.
Savage Spidey as a whole was a mess, but I thought this issue was better than the rest. Good even! It shows Peter kindness and moral compass.
Both non stop and savage where a mess and a waste. However you need to see this in print. It works so much better than digitally.
Overall, if this was meant to be the b-title for ASM, we can only go up from there! And hey, at least your torture is over!
Didn’t read any of this nonsense, don’t have an opinion, but thought you deserved kuddos for getting through the story for the rest of us. Hope Brad throws in an extra bonus in this weeks paycheck!